Judge Judy hears a web design case

[Michael Wilcox]

Judge Judy just ruled in favor of a web designer when he was accused of a
poor design which broke a contract and hurt business. Apparently the
designer made a site entirely in Flash (big surprise, a bad site in Flash)
which upset the client because it was substandard work.

The client showed examples of overlapping text, broken links, misspellings,
and the most distracting background I've ever seen (white text on blue with
white snowflakes falling in the background, rendering the text nearly
unreadable).

Judge Judy decided that this was the designer's "best possible work."

 

[e n | c k m a]

Judge Judy decided that this was the designer's "best possible work."

I'm not a fan of Judge Judy. I don't think she's very reasonable/sensible.

 

[Woolly Mittens]

I'm not a fan of Judge Judy. I don't think she's very reasonable/sensible.

Any judge would have ruled like this.

The designer had an obligation to perform. The fact that he performed like a
clown doesn't make a difference.

The work could not have been sub-standard, because there aren't any
standards for web-design quality, unless they were defined in the contract.
Which they obviously weren't.

i.e. The company could have asked for an accessible (as in 508) website.

 

[Duende]

While sitting in a puddle e n | c k m a scribbled in the mud:

I'm not a fan of Judge Judy. I don't think she's very
reasonable/sensible.

That's why she's now on tv instead of in a courtroom.

 

[e n | c k m a]

The work could not have been sub-standard, because there aren't any

standards for web-design quality, unless they were defined in the contract.
Which they obviously weren't.

i.e. The company could have asked for an accessible (as in 508) website.

That's true; good point. Interesting technicallity.

Do you think there ever will be a standard for web-design quality?
Hopefully in the near future one will be required to have a (web-standards)
certificate of some sort before being able to sell this as a product.

 

[Duende]

While sitting in a puddle e n | c k m a scribbled in the mud:

That's true; good point. Interesting technicallity.

Do you think there ever will be a standard for web-design quality?
Hopefully in the near future one will be required to have a
(web-standards) certificate of some sort before being able to sell
this as a product.

No No No!!! very bad idea. Than I couldn't do crappy websites any more.
Now go away & quit picking on us hacks.

 

[Michael Wilcox]

Do you think there ever will be a standard for web-design quality?
Hopefully in the near future one will be required to have a
(web-standards) certificate of some sort before being able to sell
this as a product.

A case was heard in which a blind user couldn't use the Olympic's website
because it wasn't designed without accesibilty guidelines in mind. See
http://www.google.com/search?q=olympics+blind+accessible

 

[Whitecrest]

That's true; good point. Interesting technicallity.
Do you think there ever will be a standard for web-design quality?

Nope, because too many people have different ideas on what a good web
design is.

Hopefully in the near future one will be required to have a (web-standards)
certificate of some sort before being able to sell this as a product.

Then that will be the end of the web as on open medium. Which is a bad
thing. Next we can force people the write books only a certain way. Or
poetry, or music.

Very bad idea. Rules stifle creativity.

 

[Whitecrest]

That's why she's now on tv instead of in a courtroom.

Actually both her and her husband were (are) very respected judges.

"Four years later, she was appointed the Supervising Judge in Manhattan
and since then, has heard over 20,000 cases in her career. A swift
decision-maker with no tolerance for excuses, Judge Judith Sheindlin
earned a reputation as one of New York's toughest judges. While on the
bench, her message was simple – take responsibility for yourself, your
actions and the children you've brought into the world. Judge Judith
Sheindlin is credited with pioneering an "open court policy," allowing
the public and the media to view her day-to-day proceedings, which was
not a common practice at the time. "Americans have the right to know how
their interests are being represented," says the Judge.:

 

[m]

Whitecrest may have written:

My impression exactly.

Actually both her and her husband were
(are) very respected judges.......
........... A swift
decision-maker

Way too swift, way too forceful.
I imagine a lot of fans are
buying into a fantasy of
omniscience and power.

 

[Bob]

Way too swift, way too forceful.
I imagine a lot of fans are
buying into a fantasy of
omniscience and power.

A quiet, conservative, thoughtful judge would not make for good TV.

The people involved in the case didn't want to go into a courtroom,
they wanted to go on TV. The Judge is no Judge, the Judge is an
actor. The people watching don't want to see a court case, they
want to be entertained. Think of it as a slightly toned down
version of Gerry Springer and you'll get the right idea.

 

[Sheila R. Hudson]

I don't think it should go that far but communication is the key. The
customer and the person doing the website should have had a clear
understanding of what was going to be on the website in the beginning,
during the project, and at the end. That's just good business practice.
I'm sure the customer will tell all of his friends about the work if they
don't already know.

 

[Whitecrest]

Way too swift, way too forceful.
I imagine a lot of fans are
buying into a fantasy of
omniscience and power.

Actually you don't see what goes on with the tv show. You only see the
highlights. Go to a taping of her (or any other) real court show and it
is totally different. Kind of boring actually like real court.

 

[Whitecrest]

A quiet, conservative, thoughtful judge would not make for good TV.
The people involved in the case didn't want to go into a courtroom,
they wanted to go on TV....

They are real judges, and the decisions are legally binding.

The people appearing split $5,000.00 (The amount may have changed) If
the decision goes to the plaintiff, then from that $5,000.00 comes the
judgment. Then what ever is left over from the $5,000.00 is split
between the plaintiff and the defendant.

It is a lot more real (and boring) than what they broadcast.

 

[Samuël van Laere]

A case was heard in which a blind user couldn't use the Olympic's website
because it wasn't designed without accesibilty guidelines in mind. See
http://www.google.com/search?q=olympics+blind+accessible

How accesible is the new Olympic's website?
http://www.athens2004.com/athens2004/

Regards,
Sam

 

[m]

Whitecrest may have written:

Actually you don't see what goes on with the tv show. You only see the
highlights. Go to a taping of her (or any other) real court show and it
is totally different. Kind of boring actually like real court.

A logically flawed assertion that fails to make proper appeal to
prior knowledge remains logically flawed.

 

[Andy Dingley]

Judge Judy decided that this was the designer's "best possible work."

For a great many "designers" (sic), this is indeed true.

I'm of the opinion (even though it usually reflects badly on me) that
there are no bad coders, only bad project managers. There are bad
coders, but it's the PM's job to ditch them quickly (or even better,
not recruit them in the first place). If the _project_ fouls up, that
has to land on the PM's head, not the coder's.

 

[RepAlciere]

Flash sucks. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

HTML.

If you want to put a document in .PDF also, then make that optional.

 

[Bob]

They are real judges, and the decisions are legally binding.

Sort of. The Judges are retired. The cases are not heard in a court
of law. The only reason they are binding is that the parties involved
sign a contract agreeing to abide by the "Judges" decision. The best
way to view it is with the Judge as a "legal binding arbitrator".

 

[Greg Schmidt]

How accesible is the new Olympic's website?
http://www.athens2004.com/athens2004/

Holy technobabble, Batman! Check out these quotes from the site:

"For the first time in the four years of its existence and for the first
time in the history of the Olympic Games the official Olympic and
Paralympic Games website follows the look and feel of the ATHENS 2004
Games."

Who here knew that the Olympic Games even *have* a "loog and feel"?

"All the above are supported by a state of the art technical
infrastructure which assures the continuous and omnipotent functionality
of the official website."

Omnipotent functionality. Sounds like Colossus: The Forbin Project is
starting its master plan with the blessings of the IOC.

ObHTML: At least one page requires my browser (Opera 7.23) to be 1194
pixels wide to avoid horizontal scrolling.